ShinyLoot digital store to close in March

ShinyLoot, the digital games store dedicated to independent titles, smaller publishers, and largely DRM-free offerings, will be shutting down in March 2016.

The announcement was sent to all registered users of the ShinyLoot site, and also appears on the company’s forum. ShinyLoot say they’ve publicised this decision nice and early, in order to allow users plenty of time to spend any unused credits and to download and store any purchased games.

Purchases from the store will be suspended from 31 January, but the last date ShinyLoot will be available “for downloads, support, or general operational matters” is 17 March. Since most of the games sold through the store are DRM-free, it should be straightforward enough for users to download and store any titles they may have purchased.

Writing about their decision to close up shop, the founders of ShinyLoot are frank about low sales and the saturated nature of the digital PC marketplace.

“At this point, we simply don’t think managing ShinyLoot as a digital distributor is a significant addition to the gaming community nor the right course of action for us personally or professionally,” they write. “There are simply too many services that provide an equal or better substitute for our offerings.”

The founders will retain ownership of the domain and suggest that they may transition from a store-front with discovery system to a purely discovery-based resource.